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2. I think the fact that he was in his first year out of HS, playing against older competition, has been unappreciated re: his year at the plate. Tough hitters league. In my opinion, he's shown the potential to be a plus bat for a catcher. This is encouraging.

3. I am skeptical about the repeated assertions that he was out of shape (much of this coming from BA). We have some first-hand reports on this board that contradict them, and from the pics I've seen he looks like a beast -- just a big, real strong kid. If in fact the BA assertions are true, it would be, for me, a major blemish on Mesoraco. But if they are not true, one has to call into question BA's take on Mesoraco. Sometimes, a negative report can be passed down -- and embellished -- without verification.

4. Mesoraco was the youngest, richest guy on the Dayton roster. At the beginning of the year, he was sharing a position with two other catchers -- Bour and Long -- both of whom had been teammates with a bunch of other guys on the roster the previous year in Billings. New kid, fat wallet, fast track = target on back. I wonder how much of the negative noise surrounding Mesoraco emanated in one way or another from teammates with an axe to grind.

Just stuff to consider....from afar.

"Baseball is a very, very complex business. It's more of a people business than most businesses." - Bob Castellini

Re: Devin Mesoraco ... catcher?

Originally Posted by redsof72

Looking at those Baseball America throwing percentages, it reminds me of about 10 years ago when I got to see Ben Davis on a regular basis. The Reds, of course, just signed Ben as a pitcher after a failed major league career as a catcher. Ben spent most of the season up around the 60 percent mark in throwing out runners, but it was even better than that because once his reputation got around, the only guys who would even try to run on him were the absolute best base stealers in the league. And he was still throwing them out at 60 percent. He would totally take away that element of the opposing team's game. I think he finished the year at 57 percent if I remember correctly. Ben, unfortunately, just could not hit major league pitching. It was a shame. Ironically, like Devin, Ben was also a high school kid from Pennsylvania. It would be a great story if Ben made it as a pitcher with the Reds.

Davis is a reminder of how hard it is to play major league baseball. He had a cannon arm and he hit well in the upper minors at ages 21-23. Everybody thought he was a shoo-in. BA ranked him #10, #59, #49 and #24 in its top 100 prospects in different years. Yet ultimately he failed.

Mesoraco's learning how hard the game is right now and it's probably going to take him five or six more years to put it all together even if he does make it. Baseball's a cruel sport.

Baseball isn't a magic trick ... it doesn't get spoiled if you figure out how it works. - gonelong

Re: Devin Mesoraco ... catcher?

1) #1 picks tend to draw overreaction in both directions: Absolutely 110 percent agree. Way, way too much put into what round a guy was drafted in.

2) he's shown the potential to be a plus bat : Agree. He held his own against older pitchers.

3) I am skeptical about the repeated assertions that he was out of shape : Agree totally. As I said earlier today, the conditioning angle is a reach at best. I did hear a comment from one scout last summer that he looked like he had put on a pound or two in the back side, but in this day and age, if a minor league player is out of shape, the strength and conditioning staff get after it. That is what they are there for. The Reds had a full-time conditioning coach (not the trainer) with that club and if they thought his conditioning was holding him back, they would have addressed it.

4) teammates with an axe to grind.:
Swing and a miss on that one. Mesoraco was well-liked by his teammates and always will be. He is a blue-collar kid without a trace of arrogance.

In response to the comments that he needs to remain as a catcher, in my humble opinion, that is all beside the point if he can't play the position. If he doesn't improve dramatically behind the plate, he could hit like Mike Piazza in his prime and it won't matter because you can't use him there.

Last thought on this: While I would like to see Mesoraco start in Dayton and personally believe that would be best for him, I would be quite surprised if that happens. I fully expect him to start in Sarasota as long as he stays healthy in spring training.

Re: Devin Mesoraco ... catcher?

I wonder if Donnie Scott's leaving the organization had anything to do with Mesoraco's struggles behind the plate.

No. He showed some improvement. But it was like taking a college student with a 1.2 GPA and saying you need to improve that to 3.6 to play in the majors. He maybe improved it to 1.6. He needs daily defensive work without having to worry about his hitting. That's why I think he should go back to Dayton where he will not have as many slumps at the plate to have to worry about than to go to Sarasota, but I do not expect that to happen.

Re: Devin Mesoraco ... catcher?

I think Mesoraco kinda suffers from the opposite problem as Stubbs. Everyone knows who was taken after Stubbs, and he will forever be linked to that. Stubbs is a very solid pick, but he will never be as good as the guy taken two picks after him. (I don't want to type his name, since it makes me sick everytime I think about it)
Mesoraco is probably not that great of a prospect, but looking at the draft that year, there really wasn't much on the board after him to make anyone think that he was a bad pick. Maybe Porcello (sp?) of the Tigers, but really it looks like Mesoraco was the best pick at #15 that year, or at least a very justifiable one. He may not end up helpng the Reds that much in the future, but there doesn't seem to be too many players taken after him that would either.

Re: Devin Mesoraco ... catcher?

Originally Posted by TheNext44

I think Mesoraco kinda suffers from the opposite problem as Stubbs. Everyone knows who was taken after Stubbs, and he will forever be linked to that. Stubbs is a very solid pick, but he will never be as good as the guy taken two picks after him. (I don't want to type his name, since it makes me sick everytime I think about it)
Mesoraco is probably not that great of a prospect, but looking at the draft that year, there really wasn't much on the board after him to make anyone think that he was a bad pick. Maybe Porcello (sp?) of the Tigers, but really it looks like Mesoraco was the best pick at #15 that year, or at least a very justifiable one. He may not end up helpng the Reds that much in the future, but there doesn't seem to be too many players taken after him that would either.

While you're right that Mesoraco doesn't have a He Who Shall Not Be Named to plague him by comparison. Porcello, Aaron Poreda, Ben Revere, J.P. Arencibia, Tim Alderson and Michael Main (all taken in the later portion of that first round) are highly rated prospects. Andrew Brackman is too, but I think that's mostly a case of Yankees prospects getting ridiculous benefits of a doubt.

Also, Arencibia, Travis D'Arnaud, Jonathan Lucroy and Derek Norris have surely passed Mesoraco on the catcher prospect charts. I'm pretty sure if they re-staged the 2007 draft, Devin wouldn't be taken in the first round.

That said, it doesn't profile as the greatest of draft classes and since no one taken behind Mesoraco will win the Cy Young next season, Mes won't engender the same kind of buyer's remorse as Stubbs has even if Stubbs turns out to be the better pick of the two.

Baseball isn't a magic trick ... it doesn't get spoiled if you figure out how it works. - gonelong

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